A Binsted Route would be the Most Controversial

The Binsted option for the Arundel A27 would devastate two communities, Binsted and Tortington.

Binsted Village www.binsted.org is a historic village going back beyond Domesday, with moot mound and Roman road and regular village events

Binsted is a magical, tranquil place and people fall in love with it. It’s a popular recreational walking area for people from Walberton Fontwell Barnham and Yapton to enjoy the National Park.

A greater variety of wildlife habitats and species would be harmed with a Binsted route. www.maves.org.uk

Because of its diverse landscape and wildlife, cultural heritage and active community, a Binsted route would impact more on the 7 Special Qualities of the National Park than any of the other options.

For all these reasons, nobody in the local communities supports the Binsted option, everyone is supporting either Pink-Blue or a lower-impact new Purple option.

The Binsted option is also the longest and the most expensive of the options that came out of the Feasibility Study. It was then estimated at £250M compared with c£190M for Pink-Blue and an estimated below-£100M for new Purple.

ABNC has been campaigning since the 1980s to protect Binsted’s landscape. Even before the consultation begins,

Its Evidence Reports show more contraventions of national, and National Park, and County planning policy than would arise with other options.

So why are Highways even bothering to look at it? It’s because they are obliged to show they have looked at a route which “avoids the National Park”, and “avoids ancient woodland”, before adopting any preferred route which goes through either.

The Binsted option appears on a map to skirt the National Park boundary, but it does go through some of the Park, and its impact on the Park is more severe than any other option.

The Binsted option appears to avoid areas of designated ancient woodland, but only by going through a small clearing-field of major archaeological significance. In doing so it would damage and isolate the important western block of ancient woodland. This is why it was previously rejected in favour of Pink-Blue.

They are obliged to spend our money looking at it: but if a Highways Engineer should be tempted to recommend a Binsted option, the facts as well as the people will stand against them.